5 Tips When Hiking The Hollywood Hills in Los Angles With Kids

The more and more that I travel I find myself wanting to travel more like a local than a tourist. Mind you, some tourist activities are totally up my alley, but now I want to really explore a city. When we were visiting California, my friend and I knew that hiking thru the Hollywood Hills to the Hollywood sign was on the top of our list of things to do.

5 Tips When Hiking The Hollywood Hills With Kids

When spending time in Los Angles, it's only right to take a hike through the Hollywood Hills. If traveling with children, here are some tips to aid your way

Photo by Charles 🇵🇭 on Unsplash

With kids in tow, we also knew that it would have to be an easier hike so the kids wouldn’t get too worn out. So we took to the internet to see what the easiest hike was. Looking at the various trail lengths, we thought the shortest (3 miles RT) would be the easiest, so we headed for the Wonder View Trail.

Spoiler alert! We never actually made it to the sign! We did get the Wisdom Tree though, but I will tell you more as you read on. So that you’ll be prepared when you go, here are 5 tips When hike the Hollywood Hills.

#1 Bring Water

Water is ~~probably~~ your most essential item to bring. It gets hot hiking, and the trail isn’t the easiest. We seen true hikers (water backpacks and all) and they were breathing heavy. We also saw a dog who couldn’t make it up to the top and had to come back down. The owner had to carry the dog back down the trail! Staying hydrated is the most important thing you can do while hiking the Hollywood Hills.

Since hiking with kids, we had then bring their small backpacks so that they could carry their own bottle on their back, thus freeing up their hands, which was perfect as some parts the had to hold on to something.

#2 Wear Proper Shoes

You would think this goes without saying, but we saw some hikers with shoes not fit for the trail. Flip flops and sandals are NOT going to cut it! Even with my gym shoes I hurt my ankle. It’s a very rocky trail with variations of heights, stepping up and down. Keep that in mind, if you have proper hiking shoes, wear them.

#3 Wear Sunscreen/Hat

Taking proper precaution from the sun is the second most important tip. Wearing sunscreen and a hat would be a great way to save your skin. Especially if you’re fair-skinned like me you’ll need to lather up! Don’t be like me who listens to her friend about not wearing a hat to Universal and then gets burnt. 😉

#4 Take a Break

When the distance of a hike looks shorter, that doesn’t mean that it is easier. This wasn’t for the faint of hearts, literally. I am totally calling my friend Sherese out on this one. We were about a 1/4 way up the hill when she said she had to stop. So me being the cheerleader, I told her she could do it! I was so nervous one of the kids would fall down the hill and I’d get killed by my boyfriend, her and her husband. As I am telling you this story now, you see that everyone survived. 😉

It was probably better she stayed back. She new her limit. Getting her back down the mountain if she was passed out wouldn’t have been an easy task. LOL

Everyone was telling the kids how well they were doing and they soaked it all in! They were doing great but we definitely stopped when needed; took a water break or just stopped under some shade. Although this puts a damper on time if you’re trying to get up there as quick as possible. However, taking small breaks can make a more enjoyable hike, especially with little ones in tow.

#5 Take a Camera

Hiking the Hollywood Hills gives you some of the best view of LA, Universal Studios and surrounding area. Literally just stop in your tracks and take that gorgeous view in. Bringing your camera can capture these great views so you can reminisce.

It was a great hike for us, I really enjoyed it and the kids said they had fun. Luckily for is we have photos to show them or the great view that I hope they really appreciate later in life.

As I mentioned above, our hike was a tad more strenuous than expected. Once we got the the Wisdom Tree some fellow hikers said it was another mile across the hills to get to the sign. My son was totally game! With 3 little kids I wasn’t! There are some areas that you can slide down, especially with little ones who may not be able to grasp something quick enough. So we headed back down after enjoying the view from atop of the hills. When we finally got back down (which actually was a little harder than going up), we were so dirty!

Like ridiculously dirty. We had already checked out of our hotel since we were headed to San Diego that night. But we could not go anywhere as filthy as we were. But where we would go? We checked around and couldn’t find anywhere with a family restroom where we could wash up and change our clothes.

As we made our way down into the city we saw a Walgreens. We gathered all our stuff and headed inside. They had a bathroom, but it wasn’t public.

Then we saw it. Our savior. A Jack in the Box. We grabbed our stuff and headed in.

Bathroom. Yes!

Dirty bathroom. Yes!

Not a proud moment, washing up in a Jack in the Box, but definitely one for the books. But we didn’t look like we rolled around in dirt anymore. So #winning

All-in-all we had a great day. Besides my whole ankle fiasco. In that moment I remember stepping down and feeling a sting, but that was it. it wasn’t until a day later that it started throbbing!! My friend had to drive the whole way to Las Vegas and Utah. I iced it the entire drive in the car. Luckily it subsided by the time we had to head back to LA to catch our flight. Just another day traveling through life, right?